Several cutting blade sharpening systems for hand tools are currently available. These systems are generally sold as sharpening kits and usually include: a sharpening stone which can be attached to a guide bar; a clamping device for retaining a tool having the cutting blade edge to be sharpened; and a graduated guide on the clamping device, which include several openings for receiving the guide bar. When the tool blade with the cutting edge is clamped within the clamping device, the sharpening stone is slid across the cutting edge of the blade at a prescribed angle depending on which opening of the guide arm receives the guide bar.
It is important that these sharpening assemblies be compact for them to be practical for certain applications where they are likely to be used, such as during a camping trip or in storage on the shelf of a workshop in a household. For any application, however, simplicity of operation and compact storage is preferred. However, compactness must not be achieved at the expense of convenience, ease of use, accuracy and reliability and consistency in maintaining the desired sharpening angle.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple sharpening assembly which is compact and can be operated with a minimum number of parts.
It is object of the present invention to provide a sharpening kit which is simple and relatively inexpensive in construction, yet convenient, accurate and reliable in use.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sharpening hone holder which provides both effective grip and protection for the fingers of an operator.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sharpening hone holder that can be used to accommodate parts of the sharpening kit to facilitate compact storage.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a support handle that can easily be attached to the present sharpener body which is inexpensive, easy to use and compact.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention a sharpening hone holder having a support rod attached thereto is constructed to store the rod. The hone holder is used with a sharpening device of the type that includes transverse guide arms with transversely spaced openings adapted to receive the support rod and an element for maintaining a fixed relationship between the tool edge to be sharpened and the guide arms. As a result, the sharpening hone is retained at a predetermined cutting angle with respect to the cutting edge of the blade. The sharpening hone holder has a body with a support rod storage space and retaining means for selectively retaining the support rod between an extended position wherein the support rod is substantially outside the storage space and a retracted position wherein the support rod is substantially within the storage space. Additionally, means is provided for retaining the support rod in a selected position in the range including the extended and retracted positions.
The sharpening device of the present invention includes a main body, a clamping portion attached to the main body and means for tightening the clamping portion tightly towards a surface of the main body thereby being adapted to engage and securely hold the blade of a knife. In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the tightening means is recessed within the clamping portion thereby allowing more acute angles without interfering with the movement of the hone during the sharpening operation.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, each opening along the guide arms is shaped to provide sufficient support to the support rod such that during sharpening the support rod maintains a constant cutting angle against the knife blade regardless of the relative angle between the support rod and the opening.